On 12/11/2020, Pfizer was approved for emergency use by the FDA. It was delivered to our hospital about a week later and my staff and I were placed at the top of the list to receive it. Most of my staff got their vaccine by 12/21/2020. A week later (12/18/2020), Moderna was approved and I got my first shot today. What a historic time in our lives. I feel lucky to be one of the first ones to receive it.
It’s 10/13/2020 and we it’s almost Fall. That’s crazy. I celebrated my pandemic birthday in Cerritos with family and we actually managed to go out for dinner. The annual tradition is to go to Lawry’s but since it’s in LA County, we were limited to tables of 4-6. So, we made a reservation at Five Crown’s a sister restaurant to Lawry’s in Orange County where they are allowed to have up to 8 at a table and started indoor dining at 25% capacity. We fudged it by making a reservation for 8 but told them we had 4 kids. So, they sat all 10 of us at a round table in the corner in the patio and we were golden.
Jesse finally scored me a Costco order of sanitizing wipes. Hooray! In addition to swim at Aquatech, the kids have also started kung fu again but at Lincoln Park. They are not allowed to have people in the studio yet so this will have to do for now. Jes and I actually like it better because we can bring lawn chairs and relax outside during the lessons.
Work has been ok and I’ve been able to work from home on Monday mornings and all day Tuesdays for now. It helps but I feel like I’m being pulled from both ends. People at work are asking when I will be in the office and the family is asking me when I’ll be home from work. Poor Jes is also going stir crazy and has started running and swimming…and doing yoga! What is this world coming to?!
I don’t know what Halloween will look like but we booked flights to go down to Cerritos for Alice’s birthday since I also have Monday 11/2 (our anniversary) off. I also booked flights to Hawaii on a whim. The flights were only $304/person round trip during ski week (mid-Feb)! What a deal! I figured it’s a good alternative since I doubt Canada will open its borders to us by then. Luckily Kaiser has started allowing self-scheduled COVID testing at no cost to members. Woot.
Next month will be an unpredictable one with the election coming up. We will just have to wait and see.
Today is 9/13/2020 and it’s been 26 weeks or 6 months since schools closed, events and sports were canceled, and we were on the brink of a complete shut down on outside life as we know it.
I now have a full supply of masks, face shields for the kids, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, and rice but sanitizing wipes are still hard to get. In the Bay Area, salons and movie theaters are not open yet, restaurants are only open for outdoor dining, schools are all online, and the kids are used to wearing a mask when we go out now. We JUST started going back to Aquatech for swim lessons two weeks ago but they have very strict rules.
The kids started remote learning on 8/27/21 and they are much more organized and demanding this school year.
On top of all that’s happened, we now have a flurry of wildfires everywhere we turn. The air quality has been unhealthy for the past 4 weeks so even going outside has been shut down for us.
On Wednesday (9/9/2020), the sky was an eerie orange color and it felt like the middle of the night at 11am.
Fortunately, we are all still healthy and well. The extended family and our friends are all well too. Work has been busy but it’s not COVID-related.
What’s on the horizon for us in the next 6 months? I have no idea but I’m prepared to keep the kids at home for school and we probably won’t see the Hawaiian islands this year. Disneyland hasn’t even opened yet so we likely won’t be there for Christmas Eve this year as well. Birthdays have come and there are more to come. We’ve been lucky to have a family down south to help expand out bubble for our sanity so the holidays should still be festive for us.
On to the next month!
It’s 8/16/2020 and what a summer we have had. We just completed our 5th month of SIP and the pandemic is still going.
I flew back down to SoCal one last time and then we drove back up with a minivan filled to the brim with stuff we had bought from Costco down there along with the bike, 5 crates of old documents, and our belongings.
The family is back together again and we are just under two weeks away from the first day of school. The first day of school was supposed to be tomorrow (8/17) and I had taken the day off. I kept the day off and plan to get the house and family situated.
As of last month, California has to start school online because our numbers are not good enough. KK will start 3rd grade and Peanut starts Kindergarten. We don’t know what the schedule will look like and it’s hard to make any plans without that information. In the coming week, we will be picking up supplies from school and getting their yearbook photos taken from the car. It’s weird but that’s how they’re doing it this year.
It’s been nice to have the kids and husband back. The house feels “alive” again. Unfortunately, there are wildfires burning in at least 5 counties around us and the air quality is so bad that the kids can’t go outside to play. However, it seems they are happy to be back at home with their own toys and sleeping in their own beds too. As soon as they got back, they went straight upstairs to their rooms and started setting up.
Work has been the usual but I’m getting a little stressed about how I’m going to manage remote learning and keep my job. We will just have to wait until I have more information before I can make any decisions.
It’s July 14, 2020 and we just finished our 4th month of SIP.
The kids and Jes are still in SoCal and it’s been good for everyone. The kids are enjoying the extra company and I think Jes and my brother are relieved to have a little extra help in planning/cooking/sharing meals.
I got to fly down for the long July 4th weekend. It was fun to play with fireworks on the driveway like we used to as kids. Jason and Jia’s neighbors were really into it too so there was plenty of entertainment that evening.
Here’s the airport and what the plane looks like when I fly. There are usually only about 50-something passengers and we are all spread out.
Here is my usual garb at work now. It’s standard to everyone to be walking around with a surgical mask and face shield.
If I’m doing a procedure in Radiology, I have to up my game and wear an N95 mask, faceshield, gown, gloves, AND the lead apron. Fun times.
KP also sent us all masks and a red sticker that we are supposed to put on our badges in case we are called to work during a lockdown of the city. Hopefully things will not come to that but it was a nice gesture.
All the elevators have stickers on the floor to cue people to keep their distance and limit the number of people inside to no more than 3 at a time.
What’s nice is that I still have one of my very good friends by my side in all this. Teresa still works with me and we are going through another crazy disease together.
We have been through scabies, H1N1 (photo above from 2009), Zika, and now SARS-COV-2. It’s been good to have someone to hang out with now that I am home alone without the family. Gets kinda lonely after a while.
What’s been helpful in passing the time is playing Animal Crossing New Horizons. It’s fun to just hang out on an island building stuff, catching fish, growing flowers, and making friends with villagers.
On the to the next month!
It’s June 14, 2020 and we just finished our 3rd month of Shelter-In-Place.
The official last day of school was on May 29th (over a week early), Peanut had a drive-by promotion ceremony on June 3rd, and I had taken the week of June 8-12 off for a possible camping trip that never got planned because of the pandemic.
So, we drove down to Cerritos on June 6th and instead of driving back up the following weekend, I flew home alone.
It was nice to finally be able to combine our family bubbles. The kids now have 4 different houses to visit and stay. They also have 4 cousins to play with! Johnny has a giant backyard complete with bounce house/water slide, my parents have a house filled with toys and a backyard to explore, Jason and Jia have a playroom and pool that never closed during SIP, and Jes’ parents have a brand new home with room for everyone to sleep. This is the best set-up ever…aside from it being 400 miles away from where I have to go to work.
My experience on Southwest Airlines was pretty good. The flight was so empty and everyone was able to spread out. We all had masks on and they boarded only 10 passengers at a time. I felt safe but was still a little anxious. The security line has almost no one waiting and the restaurants and bars are all closed. I caught the bus home and luckily didn’t have to wait too long. This is going to be an interesting summer. What am I going to do with all the extra time??
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